


Falling, Yet Grounded

by conniferusblack



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Citadel, F/M, and aromantic as wel, around the time period when Shepard is alive and investigating Saren, exploring a little more of the citadel and civilian daily life, i loved those two, inspired by the side conversation you can hear outside of Purgatory in ME3, staying true to the salarians being asexual, where the human was talking to her Salarian friend about his new armor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-08 10:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14692299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conniferusblack/pseuds/conniferusblack
Summary: A young Salarian lives out his life driven towards very specific goals.Everything is laid out and organized down to the smallest detail.He cannot afford distraction.It's strange then, that he is friends with this particular human.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is a lot of significance in the things we do and the things we don't do for the people we care about.  
> Especially when you're comparing to interactions with others you're not close to.

The screen blooms open in front of him with a gesture as he sits.

The window is brightly colored with decorative font -- it's so familiar he barely glances at it.  
He brusquely types in his login info and enters the chat.

 

> [ _a_learned_lorn_ is online]  
>  [ _2infinitynbeyond_ is online]
> 
>  
> 
> 2infinitynbeyond: sup buttercup how goes it
> 
> a_learned_lorn: Do you mean to ask if work was eventful?
> 
> 2infinitynbeyond: lol yessss??? how was your day friend  
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: The usual routines. Nothing particularly worth mentioning but I was able to find ways to plan out the schedules so we could utilize our time more efficiently.  
>    
>  2infinitynbeyond: wow. what an accomplishment. you must be proud  
>    
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: …
> 
> a_learned_lorn: You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?
> 
> 2infinitynbeyond: whaaaaatttt??? nahhh [animated round cartoon puppy emoji with floppy ears]  
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: How was your day?  
>    
>  2infinitynbeyond: (awww, not gonna comment on the puppy??? [crying emoji face])  
>    
>  2infinitynbeyond: it was alright. i couldn’t really sleep last night and kept on getting distracted by stuffff  
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: What about work?  
>    
>  2infinitynbeyond: ...I didnt really go
> 
> a_learned_lorn: What?
> 
> 2infinitynbeyond: did i forget to mention that I basically lost my job last week
> 
> a_learned_lorn: What! No! What happened?

 

Olern stared intently at the screen as he watching the other user typing for a little while. Stop. Then type some more. And then stop again.

He started tapping at his desk while waiting. Every passing second felt like a boulder was being pressed down on him.

 

Finally. _Finally!_ She responded.

 

He quickly read over the response. He made a clicking noise and frowned. Sighed. Took a breath. Wrote a response. Send.

They continued the back and forth responses in quick succession over the course of three minutes. During that time, Olern could feel himself get steadily more frustrated. Now, she was moving onto another subject like it was all nothing. Like the fact that she was unemployed didn’t matter!

 

He wonders if this is a human thing. The thought barely registers for more than a second before he decides he is more invested in answering her random inquiry on his opinions of a free homeless shelter that was being built in the lower wards. She was trying to distract him. He was appalled it was working.

She continued on for a little while, and to be honest, he was intrigued by the entire concept.

His mind was racing at the possibilities, but he swiftly steadied and reminded himself that he could not afford to get swept away in distraction.

It was only natural that he would ask her if she was considering living there herself.

To which, she only laughed (including more superfluous animated emojis) and told him that she was “totally fine for now”.

 

“Let’s meet up tomorrow and I can help review over potential jobs you can apply to.” He offered.

There was a pause again. Dreadful, awful things. But he tried to be patient as he noticed the jumping animation flutter on the screen to notify him that she was typing.

 

> 2infinitynbeyond: ok. can you meet me at my place at 2  
>    
>    
>  [Appointment titled by 2infinitynbeyond: _Jess and Olern’s Totally Awesome Hangout_ ]
> 
> [Title name accepted by both parties]
> 
> [Appointment added]  
>    
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: Probably best if I come over at _09:00_ .  
>    
>    
>  [ _Jess and Olern’s Totally Awesome Hangout_ edited and updated]
> 
> 2infinitynbeyond: OLERNNNNNNNN oh my gaawd im gonna DIEEE [knife emoji] [fire emoji] [skull emoji] [skull emoji]  
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: Don’t be dramatic. You’ll be fine. Please be sure to be ready by then.  
>    
>  2infinitynbeyond: …[poop emoji]

 

He smiled at the screen and then replied, telling her to go to sleep and that he would see her tomorrow morning. More misspellings and an overabundant use of capitalization. More emojis. In the end, after a few more seconds of vibrant complaining, she messaged him.  
 

> 2infinitynbeyond: ok. night olern!
> 
> [heart emoji] [heart emoji] [heart emoji]

 

“Good night, Jess.”

A moment later, he saw the typing animation erupt again and stared at the screen with narrowed eyes. Then, seconds later, her message appeared on the screen.

 

> 2infinitynbeyond: btw if ur going to stay online can you try and help me collect more silla plants for hte sorrows gone quest? i need 5more
> 
> a_learned_lorn: Only if you promise to go to sleep now so you won’t be sleep deprived in the morning.  
>    
>  2infinitynbeyond: awww!! olern ur teh BEST!!!! tysm! [starry eyed emoji] [heart emoji] [heart emoji]
> 
> 2infinitynbeyond: mmkay goodnight for realsies now  
>    
>  a_learned_lorn: Good night!

Olern watches her username as it fades and darkens into grey and notes her as “offline”. Keeping to his promise, he moves his character across the map towards the chosen destination. He spend only a couple hours on the task before he gathers the required materials. All the while, he also takes small breaks where he is reading articles and researching info for work. He is restless.

By the time it is 4 hours past, he has gathered enough quest items to properly complete the next 3 plot quest lines within the game. He stores them in the inventory next to the other ingredient materials he also collected for crafting items. He logs out.

Olern takes the next 20 minutes to put everything away and prepare for sleep. He already keeps his room immaculate and in order. There is very little that he needs to prepare.

 

Sleep.

 

It takes him an hour to reach her apartment in the Lower wards. He arrives at exactly 08:55 and messages her. After a second, he sends the notification through her door and hears the telltale chime.

He waits a couple minutes, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

With a ping to his omnitool, he receives a direct message from her with one word: “ok”. He imagines her tumbling out of bed after groaning and reading his message. The panic that must be powering her right now as she realizes that she overslept.

Olern smiles at the word on the screen and types his response, “I'll see you inside.”

 

Using the spare key, he goes inside and announces again that he is inside the apartment. There is a musky, heavy smell that warps the small space. Dishes lay unwashed and the counter space reveals evidence of past cooking experiences. It has been a couple weeks since his last visit, but what has accumulated feels like a mountain.

The rows and rows of plants she has collected are all green and healthy though. He passes by and checks on each one and can tell the soil is still moist.

Olern takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. Heartbeats pass. He opens his eyes again, breathes out and walks to her room. The room is warm and tepid from the grow light she keeps in her room. She is already changed but he can see from the wrinkles that have accumulated on her clothes that she had slept in them.

 

Her eyes are open as she looks at him enter the room. She doesn’t move when he gets close and kneels down to her eye level. “Morning, Olern.” She says, her voice sounding scratchy from effort.

“Morning, Jess.”

Jess groans as she stretches, closing her eyes only then. She reaches out her hand and gently pokes him on the left shoulder. “Boop.”

 

He tells her it is time to get up. Surprisingly, she actually listens and rises out of bed, her black hair is moving everywhere, looking like a collection of tangles and knots. Human hair never made sense to him on an evolutionary standpoint. So much hassle, especially when it was anything past shoulder length like for Jess. He never understood why Jess insisted on keeping hers long all the time.

 

5 minutes. They work together to clean the room to an acceptable degree. She gets her clothes together and announces that she will take a shower and he heads towards the kitchen. Jess keeps the door to the bathroom open and he busies himself with cleaning up. The entire time, she is groggily (but still audibly) telling him the new thing she has read about. Mushrooms, she tells him. She wants to grow mushrooms now. If that were to come from any other human, he would have caught on that they wanted to grow the drug variety -- but Jess is not like that.

When he reminds her that she still has a large assortment of plants under her care already, he hears her call out loudly that she will not mind more.

He is going through her dishes and washing them methodically while listening to her talk more about mushrooms. As usual, she is detailed and well researched. There is a suspicion that she may have spent hours laying in bed reading as many articles and sites she could find instead of actually sleeping.

They continue the dialogue for the next half hour and by then, he has finished cleaning the kitchen and Jess is changed into clean clothes. Right on schedule.

Humans use the phrase “off track” and “on track” to liken their minds to a vehicle. On a track, a path, or a set road. Jess’ mind is nothing like that. She took detours and derailed herself constantly, but she was constantly aware of her final destination. She would get there. Eventually. But she _would_ get there.

Sometimes, he found that she needed someone to help lead her back to the road again. So, Olern reminded her back from the subject of mushrooms to the subject of applying for jobs.  
  
“I know.” She told him, smiling and showing her teeth. “Let’s do it.”

 

By the end of the day, she managed to apply for 12 jobs. A lot of them were for small time businesses, many human run and clinging to old traditions like keeping open stock and doing things by hand. He had only helped look over the applications upon her request. He expected she would get a response from one of them in a couple days.

She thanks him and they exchange a hug. Olern is admittedly awkward when it comes to physical contact but he can tell from the way she slides towards him gracelessly, with her arms open like a flightless bird, that she would appreciate the gesture.

Jess reiterates the thanks again and again. He senses none of them are redundant.

When he leaves, she calls out to him down the hallway, “I’ll chat you later!”

 

True to her word, while he is on the transport waiting for his stop, he receives a ping to his omnitool. It’s a link to a video as well as an accompanying message. New subject this time, he notes. From the thumbnail, it looks to be a plant. Unsurprising. Nonetheless, his interest is piqued.

When he watches the video and sees it to be the carnivorous kind. _Fascinating!_  
He messages her back right away, telling her it reminds him of similar plants near his home. They aren’t so small though. And the insects they eat are definitely bigger.

They message back and forth a few more times as Jess showers him with more questions about his home. The messages sometimes span to be paragraphs long for both of them. This goes on until he reaches his stop within the Upper Wards where he works. As he is walking, he notices someone walking towards him and realizes it is one of his coworkers.

 

He is human, though that is not necessarily the problem. Olern has to refrain from pushing the arm that wraps over his shoulder. The man has no sense of personal boundaries.

“Olern, _buddy!_ Ready to work another awesome fun-filled work shift?”

“You always ask this, Brooks.” He is unable to keep the tense tone from his words. “Every time we go into work. It’s going to be the same answer.” Olern has considered changing routes to work, but he doesn’t like the idea of wasting any time. This is the most direct route. It makes the most sense.

At least, on the scheduling, it should.

 

In all his time with this coworker, he has noticed the man has an astounding ability for selective hearing. In this case, he chose not to listen to him at all and spin everything differently. “Oh, I hear ya. The same bizz as usual, right?”

There is a long strained silence that disturbs the atmosphere like a silent scream.

Yet, he continues. “So, I saw you were messaging the same person again. You always seem to be messaging them.”

Olern feels his skin prickle and pinch. The alertness crashes over his body like a flurry of waves onto a shore. Brooks notices none of this, of course. He continues on as though he were trying to meet a specific quota by the end of the day. “So, is she cute?”

 

The question almost stops him from continuing to walk. “What?” He is blinking profusely and his mouth closes into a thin line.  
  
“ _You know.”_ Brooks makes an odd expression and gestures with his eyebrows. He recognizes it as a similar facial expression that Jess makes when she is teasing. The thought of Brooks teasing him fills him with even more annoyance than usual. Which was saying a lot.

He finds himself feeling grateful that Jess doesn’t use a profile pic for the messenger.

 

A rare pause from Brooks lingers as he watches him deliberate something with a watchful eyes. Then, the wide eyed realization strikes him. “I was right then! She _is_ a girl!” Brooks exclaims a bit too loudly.  
  
He has the decency to pick up on the disdainful expression on Olern’s face, but says, “Just saying. You message her _a lot._ ”

Olern picks up his pace. “How often do you watch me, Brooks?”

Brooks is able to keep up. “It’s just an observation, man. We take the same route, you know. You’re so focused on your ‘tool that you never notice I’m nearby.” He shrugs and then walks ahead after finally understanding he is not wanted. “Didn’t mean to hit a nerve. Just wanted to say that you having a friend you can talk to so openly is pretty nice. Everyone was just wondering, ya know?”

“Stay out of my business, Brooks.” The words are cold and distant. His frown is deep. “And don’t go talking to people about Jess for your office gossip sessions.”

Selective hearing again. “Her name is Jess!? Awww, she sounds like she’s _pretty cute!_ ”  
  
“ _That makes no sense, Brooks!_ ” Olern is practically running into the building.


	2. Chapter 2

Inside is no better. The conversations surrounding him are animated and lively and he doesn’t care for it. Especially when he overhears himself to be the subject.

Staring straight ahead and making no move to acknowledge anyone, Olern heads straight for his workspace.

 

He is intercepted by his manager.

Olern actually has a lot of respect for her and doesn’t mind that she stops him. He assumes she will talk about work or any recent developments on projects.

 

She doesn’t. “I heard you have a friend outside of work?”

Olern sighs. If he can credit Brooks with one thing, it is his ability to spread info as quickly as possible.

 

“I’m sorry, it’s just that I wanted to say we’re all happy for you. We had been noticing how you’re less distant these days.” Her voice is kind and he can hear the subharmonics of what sounds to be soft hums coming from her. He deduces it is meant to signify she is genuine.

She adds on, scarily direct. “I would like to meet her.”

“T-that hardly seems appropriate, Vorenia.” Olern averts his eyes. His foot is tapping repeatedly and his hands are restless.

She looks at him openly with blue eyes that peak through blue painted dark grey plates. Her mandibles rise up and down as she speaks. “You know, there is an upcoming company party. You should consider bringing her.”

“Neither of us like that sort of thing.” He huffs.

Vorenia evades the dismissal. “We’ve both worked together in this department for nearly five years. Like it or not, I’ve come to care about you.” She laughs softly. “You’re so young. You should go out more.”

 

There is a lot of back and forth between them as Olern insists he doesn’t want anything to do with a party. He thought he was adamant about it. Somehow, by the end of their 5 minute chat, Olern has agreed to a small outing where he and her will meet up with Jess. Vorenia treated their conversation like a battlefield to maneuver and manipulate -- it’s a tactic that he has seen before.

Olern is thoroughly too intimidated to object.

 

When they part, Olern takes the time to message Jess about the future outing.

The wait for her response is dreadful. 24 seconds. When he spots the animated typing icon, he stops walking and waits.

 

> Jessabel Reddy  : lol oh no who bullied you into this? [laughing emoji] chin up buttercup!!~
> 
> Olern Delaran  : I was not bullied. My manager voiced interest that she’d like to meet you.  
>    
>  Jessabel Reddy  : r we gettin married or wut? lol jk  
>    
>  Jessabel Reddy : nice of her ot care tbh is she like ur mom?  
>    
>  Olern Delaran  : You can say no.  
>    
>  Jessabel Reddy  : sounds like you want me to say no...do u want me to saay no?  
>    
>  Olern Delaran  : …  
>    
>  Olern Delaran: I want you to only do what you’re comfortable with.

Moments pass with no response and the only thing that distracts him is when he accidentally almost bumps into by someone. He looks away from his screen to apologize and realizes it is Brooks. The apology hangs on his throat, unsaid.

“Did you two break up or something?” From the way his eyes are wide and the tone of his voice, Olern suspects that he may be serious.

“No.” He answers tersely. “Don’t be ridiculous.” Olern makes his way past Brooks before he can say anything else. When he has sits himself down, he remembers to check his messages again and sees that Jess has responded.  
 

> Jessabel Reddy  : u know me. i dont ever wanna go anywhere
> 
> why do you think i go online most of hte time???  
>    
>  Olern Delaran  : That’s true. Though I suspect my boss will not take no for an answer. She will likely try and ask again at a later date.  
>    
>  Jessabel Reddy  : do you think i could get away with asking she pay for everything  
>    
>  Olern Delaran  : Jess! That’s rude!  
>    
>  Jessabel Reddy : buuuutttt im also super unemployed rn  
>    
>  Olern Delaran : I am confident that you will get called back and secure a job soon.
> 
> But I understand your worry. I’ll ask her.  
>    
>  Jessabel Reddy  : tbh its not just that i just like free food [laughing emoji] but ty for asking for me 

Olern’s mouth curved into a smile. He turned the question to Vorenia via the office chat. Within seconds, she replies that she would be more than happy to cover both of them if Jess was open to answering questions.

“This isn’t an interrogation.” Olern frowned as he responded back.

He imagined she laughed to herself before replying with: “No need to be so protective, Olern. I will try not to pry too much.” It did not reassure him, but he reported back to Jess with her response. (Judging from the slew of emoticons she sent, he was sure she was pleased.)

Though he was more than adequate at falling back into the routine of work, the thought of what was planned to happen later kept intruding at unpredictable moments. When he was rewriting and formatting runbooks for new implementations.  When he was responding back to emails. Even when he was eating his lunch.

 

So, Olern spent his lunch hour pacing around the building.  
  
In fact, the next following days, he spent pacing, running, and attacking whatever task was in his line of sight. When the day finally came, he had finished thoroughly cleaning both his apartment and Jess’ apartment three times over. By then, Jess had been called back for a job interview -- a flower boutique store in the upper wards.

 

They were talking of the particulars of her potential job as they made their way to the meet up with Vorenia at the restaurant. Olern estimated, as they took their seats on the public transport, that they would make it to their destination in approximately half an hour.

He looked over at her. Her hair had been painstakingly combed straight and tied up and decoratively knotted. There were only a dark few strands that flew away from the silhouette. She is wearing a dark blue dress shirt with a sheer that draped down to her knees.

Her hands are clean. Trimmed short and neat. It was under his insistence that she washed the dried soil and the dark crescent moons of dirt that accumulated under her nails. Under the short sleeves, her skin shows to be dark brown and speckled with white warbly spots that trail up her arms to her neck and the edges of her face like painted stars.

 

Olern even told her so once. She found it to be “embarrassing” that he admitted it so openly. He refrains from relaying any of his observations regarding her appearance nowadays. The only exception being if she were to prompt him directly, which is rare.

Still, upon his research, he has read that humans often appreciate some form of compliment of appearance now and again. Right now, he notices that her eyes are downcast and she is staring off with a blank expression. He tells her that she looks very poised and elegant.

Jess narrows her eyes and made a noncommittal groaning sound as she slouches into her seat in response. She expresses that she is not excited. (To clarify: both about the dressing up and the upcoming job interview.)

 

“You love plants, Jess.”

Her groan drawls out into a moan that sounds like a wounded animal. “But the ones we are working with are all going to be ornamental! They don’t serve any other functions other than taking up space and _dying_.”

“Not unlike buttercups.” He quipped.

“Ok.” She conceded. “But I would much rather work with people who genuinely loved buttercups and wanted to learn how to grow lots of them.”

“You told me they were grew and spread very easily though. I imagine it would not be that difficult.”

“Don’t tell them that.” She scolded him mockingly and gently poked him on the shoulder. “I need the job security.”

He smiled. “Then you will commit to the interview?”

Jess sighed and then sat up straight in her seat. “Yes. I promise I will do my very best to research everything about them and nail all their questions.”

 

After a few moments of silence, she added. “I’m not going to let you down.”

 

Next, he reviews possible subjects they can talk about while at the restaurant.

“You’re making me feel like _this_ meeting is an interview.” She commented after he was done listing what she called a “grocery list of demands for the intended victim”. It was a joke. Though he recognized she was doing so because she was a little nervous.

 

“Vorenia is very intimidating at first. I just want to make sure you’ll be comfortable.” The thought that Jess would be uncomfortable during the get together keeps gnawing at him alongside all the other worries that had accumulated in the past few days. Still, he trusts Vorenia and knows she will act respectfully.

Logically, there is nothing to worry about. However, from all the time he has time spent with her, he finds that her emotions are often infectious. Especially now that he has learned to read human body language a little bit better. It’s difficult to ignore when she is upset.

 

He’s not sure why. He’s never really cared for humans much. At the very least, he found them tiresome and slow.

 

Jess disrupts his thinking when she lowers her voice and leans towards him. “To be honest, I find most turians intimidating.”

Olern chuckles, an old memory resurfaces. “There was a time when you admitted that you found _me_ intimidating.”

“This was before we met in person and I realized you were such a softie.” Her eyes are looking upward as though in deep thought. “But you’re right. I think it makes me tired meeting and interacting with strangers. I feel like I have to act a very specific way.”  

 

Jess takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. She asks for him to forward the list to her omnitool. Despite her apprehension, she goes over his list with a clinical eye. He sees her eyes go hard with concentration and her leg bounces as she reads.

It’s not a long list, and he knows she is a fast reader. When she looks up again, she tells him, “I’m like, 80% sure I’m not going to fuck this up now.” She smiles and gently pokes him on the shoulder again. “Thanks for doing all of this, buttercup.”

They continued talking of plants for the rest of the ride. Weeds that were native to where her parents lived. She tells him they are similar to the buttercups that spotted the green fields, similar to the patterns that wrap around his eyes and face. 

Her eyes are bright with excitement and her hands move with energy as she speaks. They exchange questions and answers quickly. Olern keeps track of the subjects as they jump back and forth like a dance. Embarrassingly, he almost trips over his own words a few times.

He forgets to keep track of the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Salarians are asexual in lore but I wanted to write a "love" story where it demonstrated that love and care they have for each other beyond anything explicitly physical. 
> 
> They are friends definitely, and the romantic feelings do not diminish that at all.   
> When I wrote these two I definitely forsaw these two being together for a long time. It'll be a long while before either of them admit to loving each other romantically, but early on, it's pretty clear that neither of them can see themselves without the other.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, here are some things to know about Olern and Jess:
> 
> Olern and Jess have been friends for over 2 years now. They officially met online while playing an MMORPG. The online game is considered dated and the servers are often pretty scarce for players. 
> 
> Jess is only really called Jessabel by her parents and certain older family members. She prefers "Jess".
> 
> Jess got fired because she did not show up to work for weeks due to her depression.  
> The only reason why they didn't fire her sooner was because she was an exemplary employee prior and they really appreciated her work.


End file.
